What are the current rules/regulations regarding SCCA autocross & thunder/lightning? I looked through the pdf rulebook but I couldn't find anything.
What are the current rules/regulations regarding SCCA autocross & thunder/lightning? I looked through the pdf rulebook but I couldn't find anything.
This may not be SCCAs regulations. Weather related stuff is usually dictated by the venues rules/policy's.
And I am wrong. Found this from 2009 but probably relevant unless it has been superseded
I know for rallycross if there is lightning visible at least (twice?) within a minute (or something like that), it's an automatic 30-minute halt in action from the last time lightning was seen. IDK if that's a national rule or what, but that's what we've always gone with.
In reply to dean1484 :
That's interesting Dean. It seems to be targeted to rallyx, but it doesn't match what I remember for autox at all. What I recall were pretty sfraighforward rules that essentially said - in the case of thunder and/or lightning the event will be suspended until 30 minutes have passed without either.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
That sounds familiar. We've also had events cancelled here in Central Florida because of a prediction of strong thunderstorms for the day.
Sometimes it doesn't end up being as bad of a storm as predicted.
I'm not going to complain, I take lightning very seriously (I've had some close calls).
We call it "pool rules". If you see/hear lightning it's an automatic 30 minutes.
If anyone fusses they're welcome to go home.
KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:We call it "pool rules". If you see/hear lightning it's an automatic 30 minutes.
If anyone fusses they're welcome to go home.
Same here. Or close to it.
We carry lightning detectors. We have two at the track and one in each of our autocross equipment trailers. They display LED's in distance ranges. Anything that falls into the 8 mile or less range is a 30 minute delay after the last hit. The previous RE for our region bought them after a big argument at an autocross event that almost came to blows (I wasn't there but I heard about it).
It's been a while since I've looked at it, but judging by the pictures in the Google shopping search, it's a General Tools LD50 detector;
In reply to djsilver (Forum Supporter) :
That's an interesting device. I'm certainly no meteorologist, but I was taught that if you hear thunder you're close enough to be within range of a lightning strike. Now I do think there can be exceptions to that rule, but being outside for an extended period with visible lightning just seems like asking for trouble.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Sometimes it hits before the clouds arrive, and before the thunder is audible.
One of my almost close calls- I was fishing on the old Sunshine Skyway bridge over Tampa Bay. The sky was clear where I was, and I couldn't hear any thunder, but at noon time the sky over St Petersburg to my North got absolutely black.
I packed up my gear and literally ran for the car. When I got to the end of the pier, a guy was standing there and asked me how the fishing was.
I looked at him and his hair was standing straight up. I was wearing a cap, so I didn't get the same effect, but even the hair on my arms was standing up from the static electricity.
A firefighter was killed by lightning in St Petersburg that day.
I've had my fishing rods make a high pitched whine that was so loud I could hear it above the sound of the outboard motor. I was hauling tail for the bridge while coming off the Gulf, but decided that taking the rods out of the rod holders and laying down in the boat was a better idea.
In both instances, I can only imagine how close conditions were to a discharge.
I have a lightning detector somewhere. I'll have to dig it out, throw it in my helmet bag.
My closest was driving a truck. The 24 foot box truck we had did not have air conditioning, so in the summer you drove with the windows open. It was raining with lightning and thunder. All of the sudden it got very bright and I could feel the heat of the hit on the left side of my face. I never did hear any thunder from that hit.
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:I know for rallycross if there is lightning visible at least (twice?) within a minute (or something like that), it's an automatic 30-minute halt in action from the last time lightning was seen. IDK if that's a national rule or what, but that's what we've always gone with.
Never done autox or rallyX, but this is basically the policy for any outdoor event of any kind, isn't it? Sports, concerts, etc.
We use the "30 minutes from last visible strike" rule, though we are not SCCA affiliated.
When I was about 17 I lived on a hill overlooking the very north end of the Chesapeake. I was out in the back yard once watching a squall blow up the river, but it was still sunny where I was. There was a sudden flash and boom as lightning struck a little area between a couple trees and the barn, maybe 50 feet from where I was standing.
The grass was long there and I saw a big wad of it fly up, and then I was sitting down on my ass on the ground, just like that. It wasn't voluntary, my legs just folded. Still not sure if it was the static charge berking with my nervous system or just my lizard brain saying, "Get down, you idiot!".
I think we use 10 miles and track it using a weather app that shows lightning strikes on the radar.
Lightning is a full stop. Rain? The only time we stop is when the timing lights start floating and won't maintain sync. Yes, that has happened at our events before. It was a season where it was the driest summer on record for our area and yet rained on 7 out of our 10 events, and not just little sprinkles, but torrential downpours. I remember an F/Street S197 Mustang GT throwing rooster tails so large it was knocking over 5 or 6 cones at a time.
In reply to NickD :
BTDT. This was at Michelin Proving Grounds. It's perfectly flat with zero drains. This wasn't a puddle on course, this was the entire course.
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